Natalie’s recycled door to the past

Recycling the Past – Architectural Salvage

A re-purposed door, already filled with memories, gets filled with more and tells the story of a family!

We love every detail of Natalie McPherson’s project… especially the old photos included in her door ‘frame.’ The accent colors are refreshing and the memories Natalie shared about the family makes it all the more extraordinary. This would make your heart lift each time you passed by. We love the narrow bench her husband made and the idea of the baskets underneath.

Natalie McPherson says, “My entry way is finally put together!

I re-purposed this old glass paned front door into a coat rack/picture frame/display shelf. My husband built me the skinny bench to sit below it. I filled the glass panes with old family photos of my daughter, parents and grandparents, his parents, his children and baby pictures of us both!”

Door off an old Sears & Roebuck house

Natalie says, “This door was a lucky find for me! I actually saw it leaning against a house once owned by some adoptive grandparents (they were my cousin’s grandparents, but I thought they were mine too). The door came from a Sear’s catalog house! My cousin asked about it and the owner gave it to him for me. Then it sat in my garage for three years. I don’t know why I waited so long to do this. I love it!”

Natalie repurposed this old glass paned front door

“I did very little to this door besides clean it and replace a broken pane of glass. This door came off an old Dears & Roebuck kit house that belonged to my aunt’s parents. While they weren’t my grandparents, I spent so much time at their house that I considered them another set of grandparents.”

Details, details…

On the right is the crackled door and on the left is the patina Natalie recreated!

“On the left is the patina I created on my shelf board. On the right is the loveliness of the natural patina on the front door.

I was lucky that the black paint on the old front door was perfectly aged,” Natalie says, ” and had crackled on its own to show the bare wood beneath. All I did was put a coat of polycrylic on it to preserve that fabulous patina. I crackled the shelf board and bench and used an antiquing wax to recreate the door’s patina.”

You can’t just pass up this kind of authentic crackle finish

Lock and key were retained to show this fun detail!

“After I snapped this photo, I realized that some little Corgi had left a muddy spot in my hard-to-keep-clean-on-a-farm black front door. Whoops!”

Natalie says, “I had an old thrifted mirror that had an ugly gold finish so I made up my own special color of chalk paint and revamped it. To fit it in the space I needed for it to go, I removed its hanging bracket off the back and moved it to the other end-so it now hangs upside down. The hooks and shelf brackets were purchased at a large chain hobby store.”

Natalie’s finished project! A door to the past…

“This truly turned into a labor of love. It caused me to sit down with my 80 year-old mother-in-law to go through her old family photos and I learned more about my husband’s family too! We’ve laughed and cried looking through those old photos.”

Filling the family history

Click to Enlarge

“Lower left are all my grandparents; upper right top pic is my mother with me at the beach in the 1960s, below that is my mother and daughter in 1994. Upper left are my parents on their wedding day, my daughter’s college graduation, my daddy and me, and my mom as a little girl. Lower right is my favorite photo of my dad circa 1945.”

Click to Enlarge

“Far left are photos of my hubby and me; middle photos are my husband’s parents who are now in their 80’s; far right are photos of my husband as a child, his children and more young photos of his parents.”

Attaching the photos

“To attach the photos to the glass, I actually used clear tape. I tried the clear corner mounting pieces, but they didn’t cooperate. I got frustrated and switched to plain old tape. I guess only time will tell if it will yellow or not.”

Finishing touches

“I’m still looking for baskets or crates to fit under my bench. I’ll keep my shoes, gardening tools and the dog leashes in those. I’m so happy with how this project turned out. I’ll probably change the decor seasonally just for fun. My entryway now makes a beautiful welcoming statement for guests and gives me a place for their coats and purses too.”

Natalie tells us, “I wouldn’t have been able to finish this project without my hubby’s help. We’ve been married for five years and, I’m ashamed to say, we’ve never put up many family photos. This project helped us get started on that special part of our marriage. I’ve wanted to complete this for three years. Finally, I was able to get it done!”

Share This Post!

6 Comments

Jeanne Sammons at

This is just a wonderful ‘keepsake’ project … filled with memories from both your hubby’s side & yours. & best of all is that this door came from your ‘adoptive’ grandparents!! A sweet recycle … love it all. You did an awesome job on the bench & shelf recreating that patina from the door. Oh what fun this will be to change out whenever you have a whim to do so! Thanks for sharing, Natalie & Sue!

Thanks Jeanne, this addition to my living room has given my open concept living room a real foyer area-which it lacked before. It makes me happy to see it everyday. For Christmas, the mirror will be replaced with an old yard sale wall mailbox. I suspect there might be a letter to Santa in it if anyone looks. I also have some new ideas for fall and winter. 😊

Super sweet story, really neat use of a beautiful door, sometimes it takes time before a project reveals it’s self three year’s isn’t to bad I k ow people it’s been 10, 0r12 year’s before doing a project… My niece did this but with window’s instead but still a neat conversation piece.

Just darling <3 I love that door, how lucky for you and what a wonderful person to that gave it to you. They either have a passion for those kind of things or they think you're completely nuts, lol. You've really made your entryway a welcoming introduction to you and your family. Good luck on your completion of family photos, you're really lucky to have your Mother in law still around to fill you in on the family. I never got to meet my Mother in law. Have fun making your house a home. <3